


Bronze Puppet

by trenchantAlturist



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Partial Mind Control, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:06:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23547358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trenchantAlturist/pseuds/trenchantAlturist
Summary: Tavros gets pulled out of the bubbles by long time best friend Dave Strider, who offers him his old room on Earth C.His roomate is Bro Strider, puppet extrodinare.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Bronze Puppet

Tavros followed Dave up the stairs, suitcase in hand and a stupid grin on. He was already bubbling with excitement, so much so he could barely speak.  
Dave had gotten him out of the dream bubbles, saving him and taking him to earth C. He didn't know why Dave chose him instead of anyone else, but he wasn't complaining! In fact, he was ecstatic, and ever thankful for the fact that he was giving him his old room. But of course, Dave had warned him about Bro. Tavros didn't mind, of course, he's delt with worse! 

"uh, dave, thank you for helping me, get settled!" Tavros said once they got to the apartment door, the smuppet doormat confirming this was the right place. 

"yeah no problem" Dave replied, the first words hes' said since they got to the apartment. He sounded so...tense. Of course Tavros noticed, raising an eyebrow "uh, are you ok?" he asked, just getting a stiff nod in response. He decided to let it go, taking a deep breath and knocking on the door and waiting.  
It wasn't too long before the door creaked open, and soon, Bro was towering over both of them. Thick shaded hiding his eyes, a leather clad hand fixing the grey cap that shaded his face. Tavros had to crane his neck to look at him, only being so short due to the bronze blood in his veins. "Uhm, hey," Tavros said softly, blank eyes looking at the others shades. He was taught it was polite to keep eye contact, but it was hard to know if it was working.  
All he got in response was a stiff head nod as a greeting, which, Tavros decided, was progress already! He turned around to thank Dave for walking him up, only to find that he's already left. Huh. 

"Kid still evadin' conversation" Bro said suddenly, Tavros looking over to him, shocked. The other had a thick accent, an almost south alternian one, but what he assumed the human equivalent was. "Uh, I guess" Tavros shrugged "He didn't, avoid any on the way here...he actually, talked a lot" he smiled "Mostly uh, about my buddies, like Gamzee!"  
"Mhm." That was the only response he got, Bro stepping out of the way to invite Tavros inside, so the Bronze walked in. 

The apartment was just as messy as Tavros' hive. Puppets and sewing supplies were on the ground, along side empty take out cartons and dirty clothes. Silently, Tavros noticed there were a lot of white polos.  
"It ain't too clean," Bro said, walking up behind him and putting a glove on his shoulder, Tavros jumping before looking up at him ",but it's home. I'm still cleanin out th'side room, so till then y'can hang out on th'futon at night" the shorter just nodded, not even knowing what he would say if he did speak. He only got confused when, in a literal flash, Bro and his suitcase were gone. Tavros looked around for both of them, but soon just took his slides off, just to be polite, before going to the futon. 

"So," Tavros looked up once he heard the other. He was behind the futon, arms crossed as he looked at him "Tavros, huh?"  
"uh, yeah, Tavros Nitram" He said, a bit anxious and putting his hands between his legs, leaning over himself and just overall nervously fidgeting around. Bro, on the other hand, simply vaulted over the futon and offered his hand "Bro. Proper introductions 'nd all that jazz" he said, Tavros taking the others hand with his own clawed one and shaking it, offering a nervous, jagged tooth smile.  
"Aw, whats up with th'tension?" he said in an obvious mock-worried tone. Tavros going back into his shell and trying to retreat his hand, but the grip tightening up "I aint bite. Unless y'want me to" This just made the troll gulp, before laughing a bit, that causing Bro to crack a slight smirk. Ok, he thought, progress. Bro just may have a weird sense of humor. Thats ok, he hoped.  
Tavros watched as he leaned over and grabbed the remote that was on the table,turning the TV on an unfamiliar show. Tavros, curious, immediately turned his attention to it. It had humans, of course, a lot of them talking in accusing tones. Immediately he was latched to it, leaning forward, obviously intrigued.  
"Oh, y'like soap operas?" Bro asked, Tavros turning to him  
"uh, whats a soap opera?" Bro laughed a bit, well, it was more of a huff, before actually answering "Typa show, has a lotta drama."  
"Oh...do you, uh, like them?"  
"Nah, shits stupid as fuck" he spoke, leaning back and spreading his arms out on the back of the futon. Tavros decided not to mention the fact that he had willingly turned it on, and is now watching it, so instead he leaned back and decided to see if they were actually any good.  
As soon as he leaned back, he felt the others hand go onto his shoulder once more. It made him flinch a bit, but he just went back to relaxing, well, as relaxed as one can be with an unfamiliar person inching closer to him every so often. He decided to brush it off as cultural differences clashing, taken he didn't know too much about human culture.

They both sat there, Bro watching the show for what Tavros assumed was "Irony", something he heard Dave mention a lot, but Tavros actually enjoying the drama filled show. Up until Bro broke the silence, that is. He stood up, stretching before talking "Well, I ain't just gon sit 'round all day" he said, The smaller looking up, a bit confused. He noticed the others confusion and elaborated "I make puppets fer a livin. Smuppets t'be more specific"  
"Oh, uh, alright" Tavros said with a nod, watching him walk off into the hallway, to what he assumed was his room. This left Tavros sitting there, watching the credits roll of the latest episode. He could just watch show after show, he thought, but then looked around at the admittedly horribly messy apartment, and stood up, deciding to do a favor for his new housemate. Leaning down, he picked up a plastic bag with some corner stores logo on it and began picking up takeout containers and food wrappers, the other would appreciate this, right? He pushed back any worry because, lets be honest, who would get mad at someone for cleaning up the place a bit?

It took a bit, But soon he almost had three plastic bags full of trash, having avoided the odd looking puppets and sewing supplies all over, deciding to deal with the trash before anything. He threw the bags away, walking back to the living room and pausing. Something had changed. He couldn't immediately tell what, looking around before getting startled.  
A puppet, expected with what he had gathered about the other, but this one was different. It was big, and its arms even longer that it was big, same could be said for its legs. He looked it over, seeing its pale face with two red circles on its cheeks, orange arms and blue shirt with white lettering on it, loudly proclaiming its name as "CAL". Curious, Tavros took a few steps before picking him up. He felt heavy, no surprise, he was big! What did he expect? But, soon, he decided he should give it to Bro. He may have lost him under all that rubbish. So, he decided to go and walk to his room…

...except he found he couldn't move. Maybe he just didn't want to? No, instead he found himself just staring into the plastic eyes. His mind wandered, at first nothing much, just curiosity about the doll. But soon, memories were pushes into his head. He was surprised he didn't physically stumble from the whiplash of the train of thought. Memories of before the game, the violence, the hell of Alternia. His hands gripped into the dolls shirt as he remembered it all. He felt like crying, maybe screaming, he doesn't know. Hell, he doesn't know why he's even thinking about this! He just--  
A hand landed on his shoulder, both rough and gentle simultaneously. He snapped his head to look at him, seeing Bro look blankly at him. "Found Cal, I see."  
"Oh, uh, Yeah" he said, the tension leaving him as he felt Bro take the puppet out of his hands and, in another literal Flash, the doll was hanging around his neck. "uh, I was cleaning up a bit, and found him. Sorry," he explained, already going to pick up the dirty laundry that was thrown about, to at least organize them. He'd clean them but like hell he knew how to use a human washing machine. Bro just nodded a bit stiffly before taking his phone out, then stopping to look back to him "What do y'want t'eat?"  
"Uh, well, since im technically dead, uhm, I don't need to eat, so you don't have to--"  
"Not my question, kid"  
Tavros thought, before shrugging, shoving another shirt into the basket he found "uh, get me whatever. I don't mind, anything" he said with a smile "I've never had, human food"  
Bro paused, before just shrugging as he called the place to set an order, Tavros going back to zoning out as he finished putting the clothes away, about to go and put the out of the way before he felt something around his shoulders. He expected it to be Bro with how touchy he's been, but when he looked over his shoulder, he didn't see him. Instead, he saw a big puppet face in his own. He jumped, not expecting it to be around his shoulders, Almost shrugging it off...before deciding to just leave him there. He was just chilling anyways. He let his mind wander as he walked back to the living room, now having only one more task to do. As he knelt down on the hard floor and collected the discarded smuppets and half finished sewing projects, his trains of thought slowly meshed into one rail, that thought being whatever the hell caused him to be so angry not that long ago. 

But of course, this led to another thought, this one being why he was angry. The answer being the hellish conditions of Alternia. With all this anger inside of him bubbling up as he now idly was cleaning the fabrics and puppets up, his moments became harsh, squeezing things together so hard, it's a surprise the seams didn't burst. Of course, Bro noticed this once he got off the phone, and put his hand on the dolls back, making Tavros jump suddenly. "uh, sorry" he began, biting back the angry tone he wanted to use "He just uh, kinda, got there"  
"Cal does that sometimes" Bro said casually, picking him up off of Tavros, which made him exhale a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Also, y'aint gotta pick that shit up. It ain't got a place t'go other than there, but thanks fer gettin th'trash"  
Tavros nodded, standing up and putting the things in his hands down before talking again "uh, no problem, just decided to, help out a bit since uh, im gonna be living here now, and all,,," Bro snorted out a bit of laughter as Cal simply put himself around the others neck, Tavros still confused on how a puppet could move all by itself, but he didn't focus too hard on it "Well, don't get too comfortable with it stayin' clean. It'll just get dirty again, kid" The bronze just nodded, watching as the other sat on the futon before deciding to slip away further into the apartment. Hey, he was going to be living here, he should get to know the place.

He walked down the small hallway, seeing a door propped open by his suitcase, and, based on context clues, he tied together that it was his room. Turning around, he saw another, closed door. Curious, and wondering for future reference, he opened the door. Maybe it was the bathroom, he reasoned with himself, he'd need to know where that was, right? He opened the door softly, peeking in. This definitely wasn't the bathroom, he realized, seeing the rather messy room. It had a different vibe than the rest of the apartment, it felt unwelcoming, discomforting. He slowly walked in, curiosity getting the best of him as he looked around.  
The room had different puppets hanging from the wall, a dresser on the wall being covered with trash and empty cans littering the top. The bed was unmade, one of the odd puppets he's seen around on the bed. Before he could take more in, he heard a footstep behind him, and immediately turned around, seeing Bro in the doorway. "Uh," Tavros gulped,trying to find an excuse "I was, looking for the bathroom"  
"In my room?"  
"....Sorry" he mumbled, trying to walk out and slip by him, letting out a sigh of relief when he did, going across the hall to get into the bathroom. He didn't even have to go, he just wanted to calm his nerves down. God, he thought as he closed the door behind himself, how pathetic is it that he nearly cracked because he was curious.

...What the fuck, he thought as he looked into his reflection, taking in the freckled, soft face in the mirror. He hasn't had a self deprecating thought in nearly half a sweep. Why did that just happen? He sighed as he splashed his face with water, using his button up to dry his face before putting it in his capchalouge, now only in the tanktop that had his sign on it. Taking one last look at himself in the mirror before walking out, looking around before walking to the living room, seeing Bro on the futon holding a takeout container. The other noticed the troll, then gestured to the unopened container, obviously meaning it was for Tavros. "Thanks," the bronze mumbled as he grabbed it, sitting next to him and opening the foregin food, taking the plastic fork and inspecting it, it was just...so different than what he was used to.  
"Somethin' wrong with it?" Bro asked, Tavros shaking his head as he got a forkful "Uh, no, just different than whats on, Alternia,"  
"Oh right, Alien shit" He said before taking a bit, Tavros doing the same. It was different, definitely, but he couldn't tell if it was in a good way or a bad way. 

After a bit of eating the odd human food and watching "Anime" (Tavros doesn't get it, isn't it just cartoons?), Bro got up and announced that he would be getting ready for bed. "Uh, alright. I'm gonna stay up for a bit," Actually, he was going to get his husktop out and chat with his friends. Well, the friends he had in the bubbles. He didn't exactly give them a warning when he got up and left.  
Well, that was the plan anyways.  
He got his palmhusk out before he went to get his suitcase for his husktop, only to find out that Alternian devices didn't exactly get along well with non-alternian cell towers. With a sigh, he sat his palmhusk down and got his suitcase, changing into his fiduspawn pajamas in what would soon be his room before going back into the living room. It was quiet now, the TV long turned off, the only noise was the soft hissing of the water pipes that accompanied Bros nightly routine. That was fine, he thought as he leaned over the futon to switch it so it was flat, the one thing human and Alternian culture had in common so far. 

As he laid down and took the blanket off the futon, and from behind it, to get comfortable, he thought about everything that had happened so far. His new roommate was interesting so far, to say the least. Dave had told him horror stories but assured him he had changed and, even if Tavros was worried (and admittedly scared) at first, he'd say it's been good so far, and something tells him that it will be. So, he got comfortable and closed his eyes, about to go to sleep…  
...Until he found himself unable to. He was tossing and turning on the futon, grunting a bit in frustration as he tried to get comfortable. Ok, that's ok, he can just watch TV till he gets to sleep. He leaned over and grabbed the remote, turning it on and flipped to a random show. Didn't look too interesting, so hopefully he could bore himself to sleep. Laying back down, he slumped into the pillow and idly watched the talkshow host announce that days special guest, some human celebrity Tavros couldn't care about, eyes slowly drooping closed until he fell asleep.

That sleep lasted about an hour or so.  
He sat up quickly when he woke up, gasping as he grabbed at the blankets. He must've had a nightmare, one he couldn't remember. Now he was just thankful he could relax, but for a moment he flipped out again. He saw two beady eyes at the end of the futon bed, making him shuffle backwards, before he realized…"Cal," he sighed, putting a clawed hand over his chest "You, uh, scared the shit outta me," he mumbled, leaning back.  
Only to meet another, more human face.  
"Bro!" he yelped, sitting up fully now  
"Heard y'wake up" he explained, doing that flash moving again to get Cal, holding him from the white mitten. "Uh, yeah, I had a nightmare…" Tavros mumbled "A horrible one, actually…"  
"Well, y'know, I had something I'd do with Davey when he couldn't sleep" Bro offered  
"Oh? Well uh, what is it?"  
"You'll see." Bro cryptically responded, causing Tavros to be even more curious, and confused.  
"But, uh--"  
"You. Roof. 5 minutes."  
And, in another flash, he was gone.


End file.
